Scientists from the Institute of Geochemistry and Analytical Chemistry (GEOKHI) them.

V. I. Vernadsky RAS created a new method for the efficient production of aluminum raw materials - alumina from bauxite ore of a large Severoonezhskoye deposit.

The application of the methodology will make it possible to cover about 20% of the needs of the Russian aluminum industry and reduce dependence on imported raw materials.

This was reported to RT in the press service of the GEOKHI RAS.

The study was supported by a grant from the President of the Russian Federation.

The results of the work are published in the journal Hydrometallurgy.

The main raw material for the production of metallic aluminum is alumina, which is obtained from aluminum ore - bauxite.

The Severoonezhskoye deposit (Arkhangelsk region) has huge ore reserves.

However, it contains up to 20% impurities of silicon oxide (silica), which makes it problematic to obtain alumina.

The admixture does not allow using the standard technology for producing alumina from aluminum ore - the so-called alkaline Bayer method.

We are talking about the process of saturation of an alkaline solution with aluminum oxide.

Scientists from GEOKHI have found a solution to this problem.

It is possible to establish the use of such bauxites on an industrial scale using the bisulfate method, the authors of the work explain.

The bisulfate method combines the advantages of acidic and alkaline methods and makes it possible to obtain high quality alumina.

“The bisulfate method makes it possible to extract aluminum without dissolving silica, the main impurity of Severo Onezhsky bauxite.

We used a high-pressure reactor to intensify the leaching process, which made it possible to recover more than 90% of aluminum,” explained the project manager, Ph.D.

Senior Researcher, Laboratory of Sorption Methods of GEOKHI RAS Dmitry Valeev.

  • bauxite ore

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © Oliver Strewe

The introduction of the methodology will allow in the future to increase production in the area of ​​the Severoonezhskoye deposit and cover 20% of the demand of Russian metallurgists in alumina, the researchers note.

Recall that Russia is in seventh place in the world in terms of explored reserves of bauxite.

However, about a quarter of the deposits explored in the country are being developed.

Mining in most cases is unprofitable due to the low quality of the ore - as in the case of the Severoonezhskoye deposit.

Until recently, about 60% of alumina for aluminum production was imported to Russia from abroad.

Thus, major suppliers of such raw materials to Russia were Australia and Ukraine, where the Russian corporation OK RUSAL owned the Nikolaev alumina refinery.

In 2022, imports through both channels were stopped.